Mine

Chapter Five "Meeting The Clients"

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my made up characters!

Sunday, October 23rd

It had been a week since I met Katie and moved to Sterling Stables. Katie and I immediately became friends, we got along so well even with the age difference (she was twenty four) just as we had on the phone and through email for the past couple of weeks. Thankfully the apartment was furnished because I had literally nothing.

It was a small apartment but I didn't mind, it was just me. When you first walked in, the living room was to the left. It had a couch and a loveseat, a flat screen TV that sat on a stand and a tall floor lamp in the left corner. Left of the door right beside it was a small dining table and the kitchen was to the right. It had a small fridge, a flat top stove, microwave and plenty of cabinets that held dishes, pots and pans. There was also a breakfast counter that sat between the kitchen and the living room.

Then walking straight past the living room was the bathroom with a tub, toilet and sink. It was pretty nice. My bedroom was to the left of the bathroom. It was decently sized and had a double bed in it with a dresser and a closet. There was a window on the right wall that overlooked the gates to Sterling Stables and the mountains behind it.

I was currently sitting at my counter, drinking my second cup of coffee. I had made the mistake of staying up late last night—with Katie—watching movies. We were both exhausted but she was up at her house taking a shower, getting ready for the small BBQ she was having so I and the clients who would be my riders, could meet. I could hear my shower running, Kit was in there. I glared at the door. The man knew how to get his way. He had been staying here for the past three days against my better judgment. Last night, he had went out with Jason and Lynn but I stayed here with Katie by choice. I didn't want to go out and he understood.

He had come back a little tipsy and he had went to bed immediately. I had to admit it was nice to have him cuddle with me from behind with his arm around me. But I also felt a bit...well...bad. We had only been "dating" a week or so. Sure, we had talked for weeks before that but it still only amounted to about a month and he was sleeping in my bed. Oh well, I guess. I liked it and, in another week, he'd be back on the road anyways.

Kit walked out of the bathroom in his jeans and his light blue button up shirt was open as he walked towards me. I averted my eyes quickly to my cup of coffee. "Another cup?" Kit asked as he kissed my cheek in passing. He opened the fridge and pulled out a soda. We had went grocery shopping last week when I moved in. Kit had offered to pay for my groceries, insisting it was like a housewarming gift from him.

"I'm just so tired and I can't be yawning or look exhausted when my clients show up. I need to make a good impression." I sighed as I yawned yet again. "I am never staying up that late again!"

Kit chuckled. "Maybe Katie is a bad influence on you."

I rolled my eyes. "No, I just really wanted to finish the set of movies we had." Kit sat down beside me and I eyed his shirt. "You should probably button that up."

Kit grinned at me. "Is it a problem for you having my shirt open?" I shot him a look and downed the rest of my coffee as I stood up.

"No. I just have to get out there to get Honor ready and when my clients come, I'd prefer you to be fully covered." Kit pulled me to him for a moment.

"Will do as asked, Ma'am." Kit kissed me again and then let me go. "I'll meet you out there once I'm finished getting dressed."

I smiled and walked out the door. It felt nice out today, a sunny day in October, it was in the mid-sixties. Still, I wore a light jacket over my white blouse and my jeans. My boots kept me warm enough and I zipped up my jacket as I made my way into the barn. I didn't want my blouse getting dirty before I met everyone.

I greeted Drew, Katie's father, as I grabbed a saddle out of the tack room. "Ready for today?" He asked as I pulled Honor out of her stall and into cross-ties.

"I think so. I'm a little nervous but I think that's normal." I started brushing Honor off with a soft brush. She wasn't really dirty since I had groomed her yesterday and she had stayed in the stall last night.

"Of course it is. But there's nothing to be nervous about. You're starting out with a three small groups of students. The first is five girls, ages twelve and thirteen, they've been riding for a month now so they're getting towards Advanced Beginners. The second group is a group of five eight-year-olds, co-ed, they've never rode before so you'll have your hands a bit more full with them. The third group really isn't a group. It's a couple of private lessons. There's a young boy about a year younger than Katie who hasn't ridden in a few years and wants a refresher, a woman in her sixties who wants to learn how to ride and I think that's it."

I nodded. "All English?"

Drew smiled understandingly. "Yes. I'm sure sooner or later you'll get some Western students. We're surrounded by ranches, cattle and rodeos. Someone is going to want to learn at some point." He gave me a pat on the back. "I'll see you in a bit."

I finished brushing Honor and tacked her up in English tack. Since my students were going to be riding English, I might as well ride her English for them. "It pains me to see my girlfriend tacking up with an English saddle." Kit joked as he walked into the barn. He was buttoned up this time and had his black Stetson on his head. I could see he had on his All-Around Cowboy belt buckle from one of the Nevada rodeos.

I rolled my eyes. "Well I guess you'll have to get over it because it looks like this girl right here is going to be doing a lot of English riding and teaching for her job."

"No Western riders?" Kit asked, patting Honor on her shoulder. I shook my head. "That's rough."

I shrugged. "I know how to ride both good. I guess I'll be investing in some breeches and paddock boots."

"You're turning my girlfriend English." Kit, jokingly, accused Katie as she entered the barn. Katie laughed.

"Look Ely, you're leaving her here with me. Things happen." Katie shrugged and gave me a playful push. "I'm sure your brothers or someone around here will keep her from going totally English."

"I did ask them to keep an eye on her for me." Kit was referring to his brothers. I rolled my eyes again. Keep an eye on me? I was twenty and an adult. I could handle myself. "Guess I'll just have to add that to their list."

I was about to speak when I heard cars pulling up, doors slamming and Drew welcoming our guests. "Show time." I said feeling nervous but exited at the same time. I led Honor out of the barn with Katie and Kit on either side of me. I saw a young group of girls—probably my advanced beginner group—and the parents accompanying them. The group of eight-year-olds had four girls and one boy. I saw an older woman with silverish blonde hair, probably one of my private lessons, and a young guy with closely shaved brown hair. Kit grabbed my reins and motioned me forward with Katie.

A half hour later I had learned at least all my student's names. My group of twelve/thirteen-year-olds were: Hope, Brianna, Nicole, Piper, and Destiny. My group of eight-year-olds were: Elizabeth, Jane, Adriana, Ellie and Simon. My two private students were Sylvia and Joe. Their parent's names were a little harder to keep track of but if I just kept to last names, I should be alright. One of the older girls, Hope, had asked to see me ride and I was thankful I had Honor tacked up. Katie had set up a simple round of jumps in the outdoor arena that were set to two feet. Easy.

I warmed up Honor, posting to her trot easily and then headed her towards the jumps. She flew over every single one as if she did it every day instead of being a barrel racer. I gave her a rewarding, firm pat on the neck and reined her by my future students. "She's so beautiful!" Ellie said reaching forward. "Can we pet her?"

"Of course. She loves people, don't you Honor?" The kids all crowded around her and I let the reins drop, ground-tying her. She understood she was meant to stay there. Simon's mother, Jackie I believe, scooted up next to me with a watchful eye on Honor and the kids.

"She'll just stand there without you holding her?" The other parents listened for my answer. I nodded with a smile.

"Honor is trained to ground-tie which is commonly used on working cattle or horse ranches. You can drop your reins right there on the ground and they know to stay put no matter what. When you're out working the fence line or doing something on the ground with both hands, you need to know your horse will stay. I believe it's a trait every horse should learn, even English horses." I explained and caught Kit's proud grin.

"Molly, right?" At my nod, Nicole's father, Rich, spoke. "Miss Sterling gave us a little bit of your background when we were signing our children up, she said you are a competing barrel racer?"

"That was correct. I've competed in barrel racing and roping since I was around eight years old. I recently stopped competing to take the internship here at Sterling Stables."

"But you ride English too?" Rich asked.

"Yes, I learned at a young age to ride both disciplines and although Honor and I were mainly riding in the Western discipline, I am very well educated in riding English as you just saw." I smiled at him and Rich smiled back.

"It makes me feel better getting to know a little bit about you and I think I speak for all of us here." I nodded, of course they wanted to get to know me.

"Well ask me anything you'd like. I will answer any of your questions or concerns." I was asked about my degree, how long I've been riding, my experience with horses, how long the lessons would be, etc. I answered every question, explaining and telling as much as I could. The kids doted over Honor and I could see she was loving it. I got to talk to them a little bit too as I had them help me un-tack Honor and put her away. My older group of girls were looking to show in jumping and I told them we should hopefully be ready by spring to compete, my younger group wanted to learn everything about riding and horses. I would hopefully get to talk to my two older private lesson students soon.

Katie and Drew kind of took over the parents and kids so I could get a chance to talk to Sylvia and Joe. I talked to Sylvia first, sitting at a table with her, away from the commotion. We ate some of Drew's BBQ food as we talked. "I've loved horses since I was a little girl but I came from a poor family and we couldn't afford it when I was younger. After I got married and had kids, I didn't have the time or money to buy a horse. Now all the kids are grown and I'm thinking that maybe after I learn to ride, I'll lease a nice trail horse from somewhere. My husband is fully behind me with this."

I smiled at her determination. "Sylvia, I will try to get you to that point as soon as I can. Since you're in good shape and aren't looking to show, it should be fairly easy. We'll get there soon."

Joe was different. He stared at me with his dark blue eyes as if he was mesmerized. "So Drew tells me you used to ride." I started out. Joe nodded.

"I used to ride jumpers a few years back before I went off to college and moved to the city. I recently moved here to Darton and saw that Sterling Stables were starting a lesson program so I thought I'd take some private lessons to get myself back into jumping again and possibly showing. I'm glad I did." Joe grinned at me and I smiled cautiously back at him. I looked towards Kit and could see him watching me with an encouraging smile. "Were you a good competitor in the rodeo?"

I looked back at him. "I guess you could say that. I did pretty well for myself, my dad taught me from when I was very young. Combine that with an amazing horse and you get good results."

"Where are you from?" I don't know why I felt uneasy about our conversation. It was just getting to know you kind of stuff anyone could ask a stranger.

"Uh, not sure really. I don't really have a hometown. From the time I was a baby, we were always on the road. It's all I knew. Darton is a new start for me and a stable one." We talked some more and we shook hands at the end. Joe held onto my hand just a moment too long and as everyone got ready to leave, he watched me as he strode towards his truck. Kit came over to me and put his arm around me.

"How do you think it went?" Kit asked as the cars drove off. I sighed.

"I think it went good but what do you think?"

Kit smiled at me. "I think it went great. You were wonderful and everyone seemed real impressed with you and Honor. All the young girls loved you. I think you'll do great." I smiled hesitantly up at him. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much.

….…...

That night as I sat in bed with Kit, I was already thinking of my lessons. I was most excited about working with my advanced beginners. They were through with their basics like w/t/c and would be moving on more complicated stuff. It would be fun. Sylvia and the younger kids would be learning their basics. Actually, the first lesson would mainly just learning about how to properly groom a horse, saddle them and then just learning how to properly ride and handle a horse. Katie and I agreed that learning how to care for the horse—and tack them up—was an important lesson that the kids needed to learn.

Joe...well Joe would be doing a little bit of both. He was twenty-four and said he stopped riding when he went off to college so that was about six years of no riding. But if he rode like he said he used to, it wouldn't take long for him to relearn everything he needed to. There was something about the look in his eyes though and the fact he couldn't take his eyes off me that had me a bit weirded out.

"Molly?" Kit gently shook me. "I was asking if you're ready to go to sleep or not. Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking of my lessons and my students. I can't wait to start." I grinned excitedly. Kit kissed me.

"I'm sure you can't but we should get to sleep. Your first lesson will happen on Tuesday." I turned out the light and my grin widened as Kit's arm came around my waist and he got as close to me as he could. This week would be a good one.

…...

AN: Hey readers! Here's your chapter for you as promised! I just wanted to get the introductions of the students and such out of the way. If you read my other stories you know that I will be writing shorter chapters(2500+ words but under 4000 usually) so that I can get chapters up faster and hopefully start updating two stories a day. I am getting closer because with my shortened chapters I am starting to update daily! So we are making progress :) I will try to update as soon as I can. It will probably be two weeks or so. I do have sixteen active stories(I know it's my fault lol) so please try to be patient with me :) I can't wait til you see the surprise I have planned for all of you in the later chapters!

I would LOVE some new reviews on this story! I only have four all together and I'd love to see some more so I know if you're enjoying the story or not. :) I hope you're liking the story and will continue to read! If you haven't done so already, check out my newest story: You Are The Only Exception, a Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island Fanfic. And if you don't know, I have another Kit story called Sophie's Choice.

A big thank you to Jessica, who is always reviewing my stories. Thank you! I always appreciate your reviews!

Thank you for reading! -Quinnandseth'sgirl15 My next update will be: Stronger Than I'll Ever Be (A Criminal Minds Story)

P.S: For those of you who haven't read Jillian's Miracle latest chapter, I had to delete Belle & Quinn: The Cabin temporarily until I can edit it. It was in a "community" where people review and report certain fanfics that are breaking the rules (mine apparently was breaking the rules, I'm assuming, for the sexual content/MA content) so I deleted it until I can make it more PG and then I'll repost it. Sorry for those who wanted to read it. I may post it on my website if I ncan remember the login details!